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Jake White: 'If you see La Rochelle play Leinster... It’s club rugby on steroids'
Jake White, the Bull’s Director of Rugby, says the Champions Cup is club rugby on steroids but navigating the challenges to compete against the best teams out there takes its toll.
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White tried to explain the calibre of the competition with teams like Leinster, Stade Rochelais and the likes.
“I believe we will grow and we will just get better and better. But I’m also a realist. If you see La Rochelle play Leinster guys, if you see those games last weekend. You see La Rochelle running out at Leicester Tigers. It’s a different level altogether. It’s club rugby on steroids.”
In the Champions Cup game at Loftus on Saturday, Bordeaux scored five tries in the second half and the Bulls were clearly slower out of the blocks to plug all the holes.
White hinted that his team was tired and flat due to their heavy traveling schedule and could not make use of the altitude to get on the front foot.
“I’d like to believe it’s due to the traveling. Coming back from Bristol, getting here on Monday, having flown via Dubai. It’s quite bizarre, because we fly London, Dubai, Dubai, Joburg,” he explained.
“The team we play against flies from Paris to Joburg. So it’s quite weird you know. We end up playing against the same team. But we’ll get there. I don’t want to sound like I am moaning and whinging.
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“We are very lucky, our owners pay for business class for our players so we are even better off than the other teams. But there is no doubt that if we can go via London, straight from London to Bristol, London and straight onto Joburg, we would’ve got here earlier Monday morning.
Match Summary 
2
Penalty Goals
0
6
Tries
6
5
Conversions
5
0
Drop Goals
0
159
Carries
84
8
Line Breaks
5
10
Turnovers Lost
11
4
Turnovers Won
8
“By the time we got to Loftus on Monday, it was after two in the afternoon. Considering you play Saturday night and you only get home on Monday after lunch, it’s a long haul,” he said.
“It’s been a bit of a slog, back and forth. We really looked flat today. I don’t know why but we looked flat. We didn’t get to the breakdowns, we turned the ball over a few times. We just looked like we were dead on our feet.
“I know they were too, but you talk about altitude and speed and pace and tempo of the game, we looked as though sometimes we were one or two yards behind the ball as well.”
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He remained positive about the outcome, having beaten a side that has not conceded 46 points in a long time.
“We will take the win and the energy it brings and hopefully, if things go according to plan, we finish second to get a home top 16. That’s not a bad place to be as a young group of players.
“It is disappointing, of course, you want to make sure that you stay in the fight, but we still managed to win with that group of players at the end.
“Cause we could quite easily have thrown it away… Some would say to me maybe I should’ve kept the team on for longer, I changed the front row after 50 minutes, I put all the guys that were on the bench on.
“The reason is I want them to experience that pressure.
“You can’t teach that to someone at training. So I am very happy that they found a way to manage the last five or six minutes and get a win.
“I’m trying hard to digest what actually happened there. At halftime, we probably thought we could get a 36 points difference, which meant that we would’ve come first,” White said.
“I thought we probably got seduced a little bit by the style – we probably started thinking like it’s a sevens game. That probably helps them because you could see that they are a good team.
“But I can’t be cross with them. Four of the forwards who played today are 21 and under: JF van Heerden is 19, Cameron 21, Jan-Hendrik 22, Reinhardt Ludwig 21.
“Now if you consider that this is the next step to Test-match rugby, then the only way you are going to learn is through these tests. One of the things that I will debrief when I sit with them is that we’ve got to be a little more streetwise – and that only comes with time.
“You don’t score 46 points against Bordeaux… If you go and look at how many times they have conceded 46 points, it’s not often. They have been dominating in France, even away from home.
“So, I’m happy, and there will be lessons that we will learn. But it’s always nice to learn lessons when you’ve won. It would have been a different speech if we had thrown that away.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Yes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
34 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to comments